What is being called the nation's toughest anti-abortion measure was signed into law on Tuesday by North Dakota's governor. The law bans most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can first be detected, which is at about six weeks.

The law sets the stage for an almost guaranteed legal showdown, with proponents saying the law is intended to test the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal.

"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade," Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a statement.

A fatal explosion last month in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, was caused by the accidental ignition of natural gas vapors that had accumulated inside a popular restaurant, according to a report from a joint city-federal task force.

After a gas line nearby was ruptured, firefighters asked employees at JJ's restaurant "to put the flames out on the candles, stove and hot water heater" inside, said the report.

When queried after the blast by investigators, the restaurant's manager acknowledged the initial request and said workers "only put the candles out and turned the stove off, but did not turn out the pilot lights for the stove or hot water heater," according to the report issued Wednesday.

A 30-car accident and bad weather caused the closure of Interstate 70 in and around Vail, Colorado, around 1:30 p.m. MT (3:30 p.m. ET), said Mindy Crane, the spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

"We were seeing blizzard conditions up in that area," Crane said, adding the closure will likely be "fairly lengthy." "We have not been able to find out if there are any injuries or fatalities."

[Updated at 5:38 p.m. ET] A part-time student at a business and arts college in St. Louis shot and wounded a school employee Tuesday before wounding himself at the institute, St. Louis police said.

The suspect, who apparently shot himself, and the Stevens Institute of Business and Arts employee were taken to a hospital, where they were in surgery Tuesday afternoon, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson said.

Police officers responding to a 911 call found the employee, identified only as a man in his late 40s, wounded in the school in downtown St. Louis. Officers then found the wounded suspect in a stairwell, as well as a handgun that investigators believe was used in the shooting, Dotson said.

Other students, faculty and staff members "headed for the doors" after the shooting and were taken to "an offsite location" to be interviewed by investigators, Dotson said.

[Initial post, 3:59 p.m. ET] Two men have been taken to a hospital in critical condition after a shooting at a St. Louis business college Tuesday, St. Louis fire Capt. Dan Sutter said.

Williams became aggressive and an altercation with officers followed in the hallway of the dorm, the college said in a statement. Officers then fired their weapons because they feared for their lives, police said.

Williams died at the scene.

One officer was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injury.

Williams was majoring in educational instructional technology, and started at the school in the summer of 2011, police spokesman Sid Robinson said.

A Denver-area police officer was fatally shot by a colleague who mistook him for an armed assailant early Friday, authorities said.

James Davies, a 35-year-old police officer in Lakewood, Colorado, was shot outside a house that he and fellow Lakewood officers - including the firing officer - were checking after hearing shots fired there, police spokesman Steve Davis said.

Austin R. Sigg, who lived not far from Ridgeway, will be charged as an adult in her death and in a separate, attempted abduction in May, authorities say.

[Updated at 6:50 p.m. ET] One of Ridgeway's great-grandmothers, Donna Moss of Independence, Missouri, told CNN affiliate KSHB that she wouldn't be able to look in the suspect's face "and not be judgmental."

"It's all I've got within me to not want to just burn him. And I mean burn him," Moss told KSHB on Wednesday.

"For me, my steps have to be one step at a time to forgiveness," Moss said. "Because yes, I am really angry."

[Updated at 6:15 p.m. ET] The student arrested in Ridgeway's death, 17-year-old Austin R. Sigg, will be tried as an adult, Jefferson County District Attorney Pam Russell said Wednesday.

Charges probably will be filed on Monday, Russell said. Authorities said earlier that Sigg, who was arrested Tuesday night, will face murder and kidnapping charges in death of Ridgeway, who is from Westminster in the Denver area. Sigg also will be charged with attempted kidnapping and attempted murder charges regarding allegations that he tried to abduct someone else on May 28 at Ketner Lake in Westminster.

Editor's note: For more on this story, see CNN affiliates KOTV and KOKI.

[Updated at 5:55 p.m. ET] Three people, including a deputy, were injured Wednesday afternoon after a man exchanged gunfire with officers on a plaza outside the Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Courthouse, officials said.

The gunman, the deputy and a bystander were hospitalized, said Sgt. Shannon Clark of the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.

The incident began when the unidentified gunman discharged a handgun into the air around 2:39 p.m. (3:39 p.m. ET), officials said.

Responding deputies confronted him, and he began shooting, Clark said. Officers returned fire.

The deputy suffered non-life-threatening but serious injuries. A woman was in fair condition, officials said.

A law enforcement official told CNN the suspect was shot in the head and was in very critical condition. Authorities said they did not know why the man initially opened fire.

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